Double Digit Adoptions During our Free the Shelters Event

DAWS was selected to participate in a “Free the Shelters” no adoption fee event in July.  The event was sponsored by Cathy Kangas, the Founder and CEO of PRAI Beauty and Board Member of the Humane Society of the US. For three days, July 14th-16th, PRAI beauty paid all adoption fees so that loving families could adopt pets at no cost.

PRAI for PAWS launched this campaign in May and saw results that exceeded their expectations!  Since the launch, PRAI Beauty sponsored adoption fees at more shelters and found homes for a total to nearly 600 animals adopted in just over 1 month!

The concept for this event grew out of the many studies that show that removing adoption fees increases the number and speed of pet adoptions (and reduces the rate of euthanasia), along with the knowledge that there are no significant differences in outcome between pets adopted with or without a fee.

It was all hands on deck at DAWS over the three-day event. Dog and cat adoption counselors, dog handlers, and other volunteers and staff were on hand to match people with pets, introduce dogs to families, and help assist in the processing of applications and release animals.  Everyone worked so hard to make sure that DAWS was successful in placing healthy cats and dogs into loving homes, even though the event was organized and executed in a very short period of time.

Anyone who attended (or drove by the shelter) knew how very busy we were for all three days, from opening until closing.  The outcome was fantastic; we were able to send 19 cats and 15 dogs home with loving families! The adoptions freed up space in our cattery and in our kennels, allowing us to bring in more homeless cats and dogs that need our help to find their forever homes.

A heartfelt thanks goes out to PRAI Beauty and everyone who participated in this wonderful event!